By Sara Ballenger

Nurse faces possibility of leaving

Gone are the days when each school had its own school nurse. Diane Gold has been serving as the nurse for the entire Los Altos School District for the last year. She currently serves 4,000 students at 6 elementary and 2 junior high schools.

In the midst of budget cuts, the district decided to curb Gold’s position to halftime, saving $45,000. Based on this decision, Gold is contemplating not returning for the 2002-03 school year.

“I feel like my job is a 150 percent job in the time I put in for it now,” Gold said. “The district proposed you can do the mandated screenings with a halftime position. I guess you just do that. Cutting back on school nurse time, which is precious little as it is, is a crime.”

Gold also spends time training staff and getting plans in place with parents of children with special health needs. Currently there are 27 students within the district with severe allergies.

“There have to be all kinds of plans in place to safeguard these children to make sure their needs are met in school,” she said. “For example, if one of these students goes on a field trip, someone trained has to go with them. I think that when a board of education makes a move like this, they don’t really understand all that’s involved. The district can’t afford to be without a full-time school nurse.”

Gold worries about students getting their proper doses of medication with cuts also affecting school office staff. The board decided to cut two halftime office clerks at the junior highs and eight halftime office clerks at the elementary schools.

“With less help in the offices, who is going to be there to respond if a child has a serious accident?” she said. “Secretaries now administer medication. With less staff, how are they going to do that safely?”

Another concern Gold has is the district’s being able to find a qualified school nurse who would be willing to take a halftime position.

“School nurses are certified like teachers,” she said. “There are volunteers, but they can’t hire a nonlicensed person. There are certain things only a school nurse can do.”

So far Gold has not heard if her position will be restored, so she is uncertain of her future in the district.

“Nobody has talked about restoring it, so I don’t have a lot of hope,” she said. “I would hold off on signing a contract with another district as long as I can, but no longer than the end of this month because other districts need to get their staff in place soon, too.”